Naito and Yūsuke were sitting on the roof of a building, drinks in their hands. They watched cars pass below them and the giant screen showing the Hunt above.
"Should we help out?" Yūsuke asked.
"No," Naito replied.
Suddenly, Genji, Akihiro, Soutaro, and Yuuto dropped down, landing next to them. Yūsuke turned to look at them, but Naito didn't even bother.
"General Naito!" Genji exclaimed. "Dachii got the drop on us! We need your help or he'll be captured by another team!"
"I know," she replied, passive as ever.
"Wait, you do? Why didn't you help us?"
"Because," she answered. "I'm tired."
Genji and the others looked at her, almost in shock. Naito stood up, stretching her legs. "Bye-bye."
And she leapt away to parts unknown. Yūsuke remained seated, while Genji approached him. "Hey, man! What's the deal with your Captain? Does she care about anything?"
"That's the price you pay when you join a military squad," Yūsuke explained. "You bend to the whims of your General."
He stood up, placing a hand on Genji's shoulder. "So if you still want to join one, think long and hard about it."
And then he left, leaving the four boys confused. Soutaro scratched his back. "Well, I guess that's that."
Genji smacked him across the head. "Idiot! We're going after him, we don't need those two!"
"I don't think that's viable anymore," Akihiro admitted.
"And why the hell not?"
Akihiro pointed to the screen. "Because, HE found them."
All it took was a glimpse of that icy blue hair, and Genji already knew it. "…Crap."
Meanwhile, at Nishiyama's house…
Kiyota backed away as General Fujii stepped forward. Fujii noticed Kiyota standing in the middle. "Kiyota, is that you? Wow, I never expected you to help Dachii!"
"It's not about helping him," Kiyota growled. "It's about taking my revenge!"
"I see, I see," Fujii remarked. "That's still a powerful motivator, I'm proud of you, kid!"
"Ugh! I'll make you regret your words!"
"Kiyota, wait——!" Nishiyama shouted.
Kiyota formed a giant comet in his hands, launching it straight at Fujii, who easily evaded it. In the blink of an eye, Fujii was in the middle of the ground, preparing to attack Kiyota.
"Shi——!"
Tetsuya attempted to punch him, but he flipped over the punch. Nishiyama tried to use her magic, but he hit her with an ice blast, knocking her over.
"ANNIHILATE!"
A giant wall of ice appeared, trapping all four of them high in the air. Fujii landed gracefully, spinning his katana. "Let's make this easy, shall we? Time to take Dachii!"
Nishiyama glared at Kiyota. "Why would you attack the strongest warrior of our time without having a well-thought-out plan?"
"Excuse me for having guts!" Kiyota shouted back. "Not everyone gets what they want like you, Tsugumi, and Akari! When you lose to a human, you still get picked up! When I lose to a Princess, I get discarded like trash!"
"Guys, this argument is not helping," Tetsuya pointed out.
"Well, does anyone else have any bright ideas?" Kiyota asked. "Didn't think so!"
Fujii watched them from below. "Man, they have no chemistry at all. It's almost hard to watch. Almost."
"This is RIDICULOUS!" Nishiyama interrupted. "Listen, we just need to work together. Kiyota, if you're gonna be a part of our team, you've got to play nice!"
"Yeah, what she said!" Tetsuya agreed.
"This IS me playing nice," Kiyota stated. "I haven't used my magic on one of you yet, have I?"
"See. This is what I mean," Nishiyama groaned.
In a blur, Fujii took off from the ground, preparing to snatch Dachii, but Dachii quickly used his powers and shattered the ice holding them, causing them to all land on the ground painfully.
"Hey..next time warn a guy…" Kiyota mumbled.
"Thanks for the save, Dachii!" Nishiyama thanked. "But what now?"
Fujii was standing on top of the broken ice. "Nice moves, Dachii! That's what I like to see!"
"Yeah, this is gonna go bad," Tetsuya admitted. "Time to run! Dachii, can you get us out of here?"
"This better work," Kiyota grumbled.
Dachii allowed the three to grab onto him, and he took off, using his Bullet Mode to accelerate faster than the eye could see.
Fujii simply smiled.
BOOM.
With a thunderous burst of speed, Fujii caught up to Dachii, who was already several blocks away.
"How the hell—?" Kiyota gasped.
"Dachii, look out!" Nishiyama cried out.
Fujii swung his sword, and Dachii managed to use his gauntlet to block, but the impact knocked them all over, causing them to crash into a factory.
"Maybe I agree with you, Nishiyama," Kiyota groaned. "This isn't going to be an easy fight."
"Now you listen to me?" she replied.
Tetsuya lifted a large chemical barrage off himself, tossing it to the side. "I've got no sight of Dachii! Did anyone see where he went?"
BOOM.
Dachii got blasted into the wall beside them, ice covering his body.
"Never mind."
Nishiyama and Tetsuya went to help him, while Kiyota glared at Fujii, who hummed as he walked forth.
"You think you're so good, taking us on alone like this," Kiyota spat. "Don't you?"
"Hmm? Oh, no! My team's just a little late! They had a little argument about who's the strongest, so they started an arm wrestling competition, which should have been done by now, but that's kids for you, they never know when to get serious—"
CRASH.
A giant white forcefield crashed through the roof of the factory, and once it dropped, it revealed Akari and the rest of the team, to Fujii's delight.
"Forget everything I just said, you guys are right on time!" Fujii said. "Perfect!"
Akari stepped out first, noticing who was standing mere feet away from her, and she gasped.
"Kiyota?"
Kiyota returned her gaze, as cold as ever. "Princess."
Meanwhile, inside the Castle of Voltiana…
Queen Ayame and King Ayrad watched the confrontation from their meeting room, eyes following every movement and detail.
"This is perfect!" Queen Ayame cheered. "Now, he'll have to use his power if he wants to win, and we can see just how strong he is!"
"But if he goes berserk again?" King Ayrad suggested. "What then?"
"Heh, well, I'm sure Fujii and the other Generals will be able to handle that," Queen Ayame assured.
Yonemura and Kamenashi watched the action as well, each taking their own notes.
"He's been unusually passive ever since the start of the fight," Yonemura noted. "Even in past battles, he would at least act with more urgency."
"Is it confidence, or ignorance?" Kamenashi wondered.
Queen Ayame put her face close to the screen, unnerving even her own husband. "Come on, Dachii, show me what you can do! Show me what makes you so special, my child!"
"Honey, I think you're a bit too close," King Ayrad worried.
Xar walked into the room, bowing before turning to face the King and Queen. "Your Majesties. Everything has gone smoothly, but Lady Ayana still hasn't arrived yet."
"That's unfortunate," Queen Ayame sighed. "Ahh, forget it. We can't weep about it now. We still have a Masquerade to run."
She and her husband went back to watching the screen. "Xar, once this is over, I would love for you to bring Dachii backstage for dinner."
Xar nodded. "On it."
As he left, the battle on screen got even more intense.
Battle of the Hunted…
Kiyota immediately got up, enraged, but Tetsuya had to hold him back. "Hey, man! Wait! That's the Princess! You can't just go charging at her like that!"
"Let me go!"
Nishiyama watched, still at Dachii's side, the ice slowly melting off of him. Dachii sat up.
"Every one of them is so strong!" Nishiyama moaned. "And look at us, we can't even form a plan! Dachii? Do you know what to do?"
Dachii's eyes drifted between each member of Team S. "No."
"That's it? No?"
He stood up without a single care in the world. "Nope."
"Let's all be rational, people," Yoritomo suggested. "Just hand us over Dachii, we win the game, and we call it a day and head back to the castle, everyone wins, right?"
"I'd prefer to fight," Aoki interjected.
"Me too," Tsugumi agreed. "Isn't that right, Tetsuya?"
Tetsuya narrowed his eyes at her.
Arata cracked his knuckles. "You girls are speaking my language!"
Kiyota gritted his teeth as Fujii pulled out his laser capsule. "Time to secure the dub——!"
BOOM.
Dachii moved in an instant and punched Fujii, knocking the capsule out of his hands and sending him flying back, shocking everyone and making Team S jump back.
"What on earth?" Yoritomo exclaimed, catching the capsule.
Nishiyama and Tetsuya stood there with their eyes wide, but Kiyota immediately started laughing, his magic activating.
"Hahaha! That's perfect, Dachii! Perfect! Damn the talking, let's kill them!"
He fired a comet at them, but Fujii threw his sword at it, surprisingly managing to stay upright from Dachii's blow. As opposed to his team, he had a smile on his face as well.
"So it's a fight, then? Let's fight!"
"No, no, no, guys!" Nishiyama called out.
"To hell with it," Tetsuya sighed. "Let's go!"
Fujii rushed towards the group, but Dachii fended off his strike with his gauntlets, delivering a powerful punch to Fujii's jaw, which the General blocked.
"They're attacking?" Yoritomo thought. "But look at the difference, there's no way they can win!"
Tsugumi watched the fight for a moment before moving in to help Fujii, and in response, Tetusya head-butted her.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Helping my team!" he responded.
"Idiot, you can't beat me! I'm the one who protects YOU, not the other way around!"
Tetsuya smirked. "Should have seen how I did against Tsubasa."
"Do I LOOK like Tsubasa?"
Without a second thought, she easily delivered a spinning kick to his face, knocking him to the ground.
Behind them, Kiyota laughed like a manic, firing comets at Aoki, Akari, and Arata like he had no self-control. "Die, royals! Die! Die! Die!"
Akari blocked them all using her forcefield, but Kiyota didn't seem to care, his eyes showing a gleeful determination. Aoki looked at him with disgust.
"That kid has serious issues," she remarked.
"I know," Akari replied.
"DIE!"
He lifted his hands above his head and formed a giant comet, slamming it down on Akari's forcefield like a boulder. The forcefield cracked slightly, but it didn't break.
"Okay, enough of this," Akari insisted.
She dropped her forcefield and blasted Kiyota with an energy blast that sent him flying back toward Nishiyama, who was weighing her options.
"What are you doing?" Kiyota yelled. "Pick one of them and attack!"
"I'm trying to think this through!" she yelled back. "Morino always said to think before you act. If I use my magic on General Fujii, that leaves the other five! If I use it on any one of Akari, Aoki, or Arata, the other two will attack you, and Fujii will capture Dachii! Tetsuya's keeping Tsugumi busy, and Director Yoritomo isn't even a fighter!"
"So what are you going to do, damn it?"
"To hell with it!" Nishiyama threw out her hands and used her magic on Fujii, who stopped in his tracks. Dachii used the opportunity to shoulder-check Fujii, knocking him back.
"Not bad," Kiyota complimented. "Now hold him still while we kill the rest."
Tetsuya landed next to them, face-first. "I'm okay!"
Akari held up her hand, energy charging up. "Step aside and give us Dachii, Kiyota."
"Kiss my ass, royal," he spat.
Akari appeared a bit offended before scowling and blasting him through the wall. "I'll handle him, you guys handle the others!"
She jumped through the hole in the wall, and Aoki scoffed.
"Who does she think she is, ordering me?"
Then she turned her attention to Dachii. "Dachii. The game is over. We're going to win. Be a good squadmate and get in the cage."
Arata put two meaty hands on Dachii's shoulders. "I'll throw him in! Give it here—-!"
Dachii elbowed him before tossing him over his shoulder, and he hit the ground with a painful CRACK.
Aoki, Tsugumi, and Yoritomo watched, stunned, but Aoki quickly shook it off, drawing her katana. "Alright then. I guess I'll have to teach you a lesson."
Meanwhile, at the gate of Voltiana…
The gate guards were busy taking a nap when they heard a girl nearby humming. They opened their eyes to find a human girl in an elegant silver dress, a bag slung across her back.
"Hey!" one asked. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ayana!" she answered. "I was invited to come to Voltiana's Masquerade, and unless there's any other giant super countries with their own royal parties, I assume I'm allowed in?"
"Why are you so late?" another asked.
She shrugged. "Just got caught up in business."
"Fine," the first obliged. "Enter, and head for Alora District immediately."
Ayana nodded. "Will do!"
She walked inside, and a couple of minutes later, a group of robed individuals walked up to the gate as well.
"Who the hell are you guys?" the guards asked.
"We…are…her…entourage," the first one spoke. "A lady…needs her protection…"
The guards looked amongst themselves for a moment, uncomfortable, but they relented. "I guess that makes sense. Go inside, and don't cause any trouble or it'll be your heads!"
They bowed. "Of course…"
Once they were inside and out of earshot, the first one turned to his allies. "Go. Look for the Destroyer, and end him, by any means…"
The individuals spread out and disappeared. The first noticed a hologram displaying Dachii's battle against his friends, and he immediately stepped closer, intrigued.
"Ahh…yes…"
And with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.
"Yes."
—-